Journey To The Heart (Kim Nataraja)

Journey to the Heart

Christian Contemplation Though the Centuries

An Illustrated Guide

Laurence Freeman OSB, Esther De Waal, Kallistos Ware, Shirley Du Boulay, Andrew Louth and others.

edited by

Kim Nataraja

The contemplative tradition in Christianity traces its origins back to the person of Jesus himself to quiet places to pray, and it has nourished and challenged disciples in every generation since. 

Journey to the Heart is an in-depth and richly illustrated exploration of this long tradition of Christian spirituality by some of today's leading spiritual writers. From New Testament times to the present day, it traces the many tributaries of this stream, using the essential insights of many key teachers, practitioner, movements, and classic spiritual texts as stepping stones along the way.  These Include:

• Jesus, St John and St Paul
• The Early Church Fathers: Clement, Origen and others
• The Desert Tradition: Macarius, Evagrius, Cassian and other Desert Mothers and Fathers
• The Jesus Prayer
• The monastic and mendicant founders: Augustine, Hildegard, Benedict, Francis and Dominic
• The early English mystics: Julian of Norwich, Marjorie Kempe, Walter Hilton, and the anonymous writer of The Cloud of Unknowing.
• Classic mystics and spiritual masters: Meister Eckhart, St Ignatius, St John of the Cross and St Teresa of Avila
• Poets and writers: Dante, Thomas Traherne, George Herbert and Evelyn Underhill
• Moden-day mystics including thomas Merton, Bede Griffiths and John Main.
  

For each successive stage of the unfolding drama of Christian mysticism, Journey to the Heart features biographies, an overview of historical contexts and contemporary influences, an exploration of key concepts and thems, and essential quotation, making it an ideal resource for study as well as a companion guide to the spiritual life.